The Knock at the Door
by TheBookwormBakery
Summary: Based on the shortest horror story: "The last man on earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock at the door." Jay Alban notices people around him disappearing into thin air, and is thrust into the life of being the Doctor's companion.


Jay finished his fifth round of restless pacing and sat back down in the worn, creaky chair. The familiar sound did little to soothe his nerves; saying they were frayed would be an immense understatement.

He rewound through his day, trying again to figure out exactly what had happened. His morning had been normal, work had been normal; he had been chatting with Dan and making a cup of tea when the house had fallen silent. After calling for his partner multiple times and searching the entire house, eventually realizing that Dan had indeed vanished into thin air, he had become aware of a low humming sound throbbing through the air. Having no idea what it was, he had run to his bedroom, boarded up the windows, and locked the door.

That had been three hours ago.

Now that he thought about it, there ha been multiple occasions where people had seemed to disappear into thin air. The woman behind him at the coffee shop, whom he had assumed had given up and left; Jeanine at work when his back was turned. He had assumed she had slipped out unnoticed and gone home. And others throughout the day, in crowded places or where no one had been paying attention.

Jay was just about to get up and pace again when he heard a chilling sound: someone was knocking on the door.

His first thought was of Dan, that he had somehow planned an elaborate practical joke. His second thought was that that was absurd, and it was most likely something far worse.

The knocker tried the knob, jiggling it vigorously. Jay prayed that they didn't have any skill at picking locks or breaking down doors.

He heard an unusual pulsing noise, followed by a man saying, "Yes, I know it's wood, just work, will you?"

The pulsing continued for a few more seconds, and ended when the lock clicked. The door swung open, and Jay stared at the person on the other side.

The man wore a pinstriped suit with a long brown coat and bright red converse, and his hair was ridiculously messy. "Oh, hello! I'm the Doctor. Why did you lock yourself in a room? Bit boring, isn't it?"

Jay found his head full of questions, and they tumbled out in quick succession: "What kind of name is 'Doctor'? Doctor who? And what the hell is going on?"

"You can't answer my questions with more questions," the 'Doctor' said. "I asked you questions first!"

"You're the one bursting into a locked room with a-a screwdriver while people have been disappearing into thin air!"

"Fine, fine! 'The Doctor' is an excellent name, you don't need to know that, and you've answered your own question. And mine too, I suppose." He held up the screwdriver thing and it started pulsing again.

"So people are disappearing into thin air?"

"Yup-well, probably teleported. Or even vaporized, but that would be the worst-case scenario."

"I-teleported? Who would be able to do that? Aliens?"

"Probably."

"But they-"

"Don't exist? Haven't you noticed the strange things going on around London-well, the whole world-in the past few years? Especially around Christmas time?"

"Those have perfectly reasonable explanations," Jay insisted. "Gas leaks, holograms, mass hallucination-"

"Excuses that only the most gullible, stupid, imagination-lacking apes would believe!" the Doctor snapped. "You yourself said people had disappeared into thin air! Where do you think they went? Sudden holiday?" The pulsing thing beeped and the green light thing at the tip flashed. "Oh, that's not good," he muttered.

"What's not good?" Jay asked.

"Who else lived here with you?" the Doctor asked.

"Er, my partner. Dan. He disappeared, so I came and hid in here and-"

"Where did he disappear?"

"The kitchen table? I was going to make tea..."

The Doctor ran out of the room, his coat whipping around the corner after him. A few seconds later, he poked his head back into the doorway. "What's your name?"

"Er, James," Jay said. "James Alban. My friends call me Jay-or at least they did."

"Well then, James James Alban whose friends call him Jay," the Doctor said. "How would you like to save the world?"

**(A/N: It's pretty short, sorry about that. I originally wrote this to be posted on Instagram where chapters kind of have to be pretty short... Anyway, first chapter. Review please?)**


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